Flight – amusemusings

In Southern Peru, there’s this tiny little town halfway between Lima & Arequipa, that is well known for one thing. The Nazca Lines. They are massive, some as big as a futbol field, & feature shapes including triangles & trapezoids as well as renderings of animals such as a spider monkey & hummingbird, all executed by one continuous line created by removing rocks, brush & debris revealing the light sandy dust below. No shape is repeated and experts believe they date back to 500 BCE to 500 CE.
But it’s one of the greatest mysteries of the world as no one knows why. The world’s top scientists & archaeologists have worked on it & theories abound… from landing strips for alien spaceships to some kind of agricultural calendar aligned with the constellations above. It’s seriously fascinating. These shapes & renderings are massive so the only way to properly see them is from the air although we did climb up a viewing tower & got a decent view of 3 of the animal shapes.
From the viewing tower, which is just off the PanAmerican highway, you can see the renderings from a distance of 50ft & I was quite surprised to find the lines were relatively thin (maybe a ft) & lacking depth (maybe 5cm). I wondered what was stopping winds from blowing debris over them & I figured there had to be some sort of human maintenance. Those thoughts were quickly debunked by our tour guide as he indicated there has never been human maintenance & furthermore, tornadoes hit the area moving debris & rocks & disrupting the lines but that the winds at night strangely serve to cleanup the shapes. Freaky.
The shapes are in a desert valley surrounded by 2 rivers but the rivers circumvent the valley allowing the shapes to survive. It’s all very odd & fascinating. So we were really looking forward to the flight to get an aerial view. I had read reports that many people get sick on the flights but as I’d never suffered from motion sickness before & have traveled extensively including in small planes, I wasn’t at all worried. Perhaps I should’ve been as I couldn’t have predicted the sharp figure 8s the plane took in its 30min flight to ensure folks on both sides of the tiny 6-seater Cessna could view the lines. The plane’s wings are essentially perpendicular to the ground when making these turns in strong winds causing sudden drops & my stomach was in my throat. It made for an awfully long 30mins, spent clutching the barf bag & fanning myself with a map when thankfully the pilot noticed & then proceeded to fly with one hand while he propped open the window with the other. Safety be damned as that fresh air prevented me from vomiting. We landed & quickly hopped off the plane to find that Amy & another passenger were similarly suffering. 3 of 5 passengers. Oh well. I still find the Nazca Lines fascinating & am thrilled I saw them but I would caution against the flight unless you’re positive you have an iron stomach.